[dropcap]H[/dropcap]andy but smart taxi services are important nowadays likewise to other transport means. One cannot deny the convenience of these taxi services, which play a significant role as a transportation alternative in all parts of the world. The service is been available at the airports, cities and almost every nook and corner of country with just a SMS and call it is making comfort for commuters.
Although sometimes explained as a semi-public transport mode, the taxi service is, in fact, the first public transport in small towns when the distances between common origins and final destinations become too large to be traveled by non-motorized modes.
In developed nations, taxis tend to be utilized as a substitute for private motor vehicles through passengers who use the service for convenience reasons or because they don’t want to own a car, even though they can afford it. In the developing nations, taxis are often utilized to supplement inadequate public transport systems based on buses or trains. In those cases, they may be also characterized by shared taxis and low cost single passenger services (for instance, motor tricycles or motor quadrucycles in India and Bangladesh, and mototaxis in Brazil). These are services demanded by upper lower income users who don’t own private motorized vehicles.
Although this is usually not the case in Brazil, the market in many developing cities is quite often unregulated. On the other hand in Pakistan, Careem taxi service is getting boom and expanding fast. Dubai-based ride-hailing service Careem has been operating since 2015 in seven dissimilar cities in the country. Lahore is the first city in the country where Careem introduced its operations. It has presently entered Karachi and managed to grab a lot of attention by offering steep discounts on rides to popular destinations counting the Karachi Eat Festival, Karachi Literature Festival among others.
No doubt, its mobile app is easy to use. After the initial download and registration, customers can call for an immediate pickup or make reservations for later. The app permits customers to track the perfect location of their ride while multiple payment options further facilitate easy commuting. For users who don’t have smartphones or the Careem mobile app, a round-the-clock telephone hotline service is available.
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Evangelizing the mobile app also pays for customers as they earn Careem points for referring friends to join the Careem ecosystem. With Rs500 credit per referral, Careem provides an attractive proposition for their customers to spread the word on behalf of the company. Similarly, Careem points are also awarded for frequent use of the company’s service. Apart from Pakistan, Careem is also serving in the Middle East and North Africa.
Careem was launched by a group of former consultants and has so far managed to increase $60 million with the Abraaj Group. It is opening jobs for young team of fresh graduates and experienced professionals who represent 24 nationalities. Although Careem does not operate its own fleet, its team members work closely with the fleets of other firms. Consequently, the front-end service providers who Careem terms ‘captains’ instead of drivers are also an integral part of its team and the management ensures regular and thorough engagement with them to ensure that its service delivery benchmarks are sustained.
It has also inked a contract with the personnel research company, RCS of the Pathfinder Group for background checks and verification of fleet operators.
FAVOURING WOMEN JOB SEEKERS
Experts said that the management will be creating greater than 35,000 plus career opportunities by the end of 2017 for male and female both.
Careem has introduced women drivers in the country, enabling women to become independent and more empowered. The management expects that by creating more career opportunities in the region not only will it lead to increased car availability for its customers but also shorter estimated times of arrival (ETA) to sustain the customer’s growing needs.
Careem has upgraded its app and now one can see Careem cab option in the app. The management also wants existing taxis to advantage from the ride-hailing revolution. This would raise the number of rides it gets and decline the wasteful kilometers spent looking for rides or the hours it spent waiting at taxi stands. For the users, it brings ease of hailing to a familiar option at the lowest cost. The biggest competitor of Careem in Pakistan is Uber – another ride-hailing service, which operates from the same cities as Uber. Both the companies are trying to get the lead in ride-hailing service.
CONCLUSION
Taxi service has undergone radical revamp in recent years. In particular, significant investments in communication system and GPS devices have enhanced quality of taxi services by better dispatches. Careem’s mission has been to positively and meaningfully impact the communities in which it operates and this campaign intends to do just that. The rise of the sharing economy is imminent across the world and firms like Careem are on the forefront of this emerging market, in Pakistan and abroad.